Saturday, April 28, 2012

Government policy decisions of yesteryear had limited impact
on the world –at large because of far fewer people and less potent
technology.Today we have both the
population numbers and technical means to impose truly environment changing (even
earth shaking) actions on our planet.

We now live in an age where it is no longer appropriate for
our leaders to make decisions and proposals whose consequences do not look
beyond the next election and well into the future.To ignore future ramifications is
irresponsible.In life as in the game of
Chess, if you leave yourself no resources for the end of the game, you
lose.Are we expecting the second coming
to occur before we reach our end game here on earth?I require personal responsibility of myself
and those around me and sometimes dream that government might do the same.These dreams are usually pretty unpleasant as
we seem to have all but lost the traditional approach of leading by example.

Two of today's biggest political issues are the economy
(jobs) and the national debt.Many
solutions have been mentioned, but I don't recall any of them including a
conclusion…an end game…a happy ending (?):

·More jobs – then what?More production requires the use of more resources
to supply more people – driving up costs and leading to the need for ever more
jobs.And then what? Is there any end in sight? Perhaps a better approach would be to reduce
population to a point where there was a job for everyone (!).Our civilization has no rules for the game of
life…notice that we limit the individual use of water and at the same time
build more dams to supply more water.Why do we need to limit water use?Is it so that we can squeeze more people on to the planet, build them
more suburbs, sell them more stuff, and tax them to build more dams?

·If we zero out the national debt – then
what?Do we start all over again?Swear supply off borrowing forever? Do we just let future generations struggle with
the whole mess?Is the idea that it's OK
to be head over heels in debt?That's
just not my inclination – I find myself repelled by too much dependency and
attracted towards self-sufficiency.

1 comment:

Obie, Obie! You're doing what they don't want you to do! You're THINKING!

Thank you for your thoughts. I was reading something that my friend Ed Malick (formerly of Gualala) posted a link to on facebook just now...A NYT op-ed piece about how to make our country indistinguishable... It certainly ties in to your writing here.

I remember your telling me when I first met you about the concrete taking over Southern California. Who could not understand just by looking at these two photos at the top of this page!

You continue to inspire and amaze me. You are so much more than just one of the best architects in the world. Thank you!